JTS OIL CONSUMTION

[lombardi]

Could someone please explain why the alfa JTS 2ltr engine burns excessive oil and if possible is there a way of minimising this- am thinking of buying either a GT 2005 MOD. or a 156 of same era with the JTS motor.Is this a design fault. Looking forward to answers. regards

[colcol]

Different ring design than twin spark, rings are looser for less friction, but let a bit of oil thru, you minimize it by using a full synthetic 10-60 race oil, as recomended by Alfa Romeo, use rubbish oil and you will go thru heaps of oil, some independant Alfa Romeo service shops claim they can modify rings to stop oil consumption, look on our sponsors page for the names of service providers and have a talk to them, but also talk to some Volkswagon and Audi drivers with direct injection, they use oil as well, so its not just an Alfa thing, its direct injection, i personally have a 2002 JTS and it uses about 100mlls per month, about 2000ks and i don't have a problem with it and look at the fuel consumption, i can get 800ks to a tank, Colin.

[ANG156]

also talk to some Volkswagon and Audi drivers with direct injection,

The new SIDI motor that the current commodore's come out with also use heaps of oil. My uncle is a mechanic at mantello holden in fawkner and he can't stand the sight of these cars anymore. At least alfa comes with a dipstick to check the oil level. A new audi doesn't even have one. There is a warning light that comes up on the dashboard but heaven help you if that stops working.

[colcol]

We Alfa Romeo drivers tend to look after our cars well, such as checking the oil level every week, Commodore owners check the level when the oil light won't go out, and i am not making this up!, every week at work during lunch time, uncle Col will check the oil level in the JTS, usually with a smarty pants remark from Commodore owners about never having to check the oil, except when they seize the motor, on the Alfa 155, not sold in Australia, they had an oil level light, that shone when the oil level dropped down, this would be a good thing in a JTS, although, how long does it take to check the oil level, yourself?, Colin.

[Davidm1600]

Too true Col. I love lifting the bonnet on mine, just to perve over the motor, albeit it is covered in plastic unlike my old 105s 

Just a really quick question which hopefully someone can help me out with, is where do I find 10-60 oil. It is just that none of the normal aftermarket car places or servos down here seem to stock such oil. 

[ANG156]

I was at repco yesterday and they had some 10w-60 oil made by castrol edge. I use this in my ts but the price has hit $80 for 5 litres thanks to the new titanium edge technology which I am unsure what benefits it will provide.

[lombardi]

Thanks fellow alfisti for your helpful replies, was aware of holdens dilemma as well as a friend as a late mod ute and uses oil like if its going out of fashion.Have had alfas all my driving life ,any misgivings would still not stear me away from il marchio che amo. thanks a million amici.

[wankski]

if you can, with the 156 and the GT - if you can get the v6 DO IT.

the 3.2 is a cracker!

vastly better made and superior engines... that said...

10w-60 can be found in autobarn, sueprcheap, repco and bursons...

CASTROL edge 10w-60, and now liqui-moly 10w-60 is being stocked, esp in autobarn.

Another great alternative is penrite sin5 (5w-60) which gives a bit thinner cold start viscosity and still maintains a similar hot viscosity to the specified selenia racing oil. Aussie made and contains ester as well. I've also seen this at autobarn.

Regards,

Joe

[Davidm1600]

Thanks also guys for the headsup where to find the good oil.  Must have been looking in the wrong places.  Will grab some pronto to look after mine.    X2 for getting a GT, they really look great in the flesh and I understand really nice to drive.

[lombardi]

Probably not the best reason ,but to stear away from the v6 is the cost of timing belt changes,remember owning a 166 with that glorious motor,only downfall was the bill of 2.5k for the belt changes. HAVE driven the 2ltr JTS and was mightily impressed,a very nice free revving engine. -- Please forgive my ignorance if in fact the costs are lower ON THE GT OR 156 than previously stated.

[Darryl]

2.5K for a timing belt change seems a tad excessive? That's more than the old Audi A4 V6s which needed you to pull half the car apart to do one cost, but I have no idea of the going rate for the fwd Alfas.

[wankski]

its not 2.5k...

Ship in belt items from UK - $350 to your door. (edit: that price included WP iirc)

labour from LD doncaster confirmed in nov last yr - $990.

that's includes labour for water pump (a once off on a v6!).

don't kid yourself that the TS/JTS properly done is much cheaper. The belt kit is slightly cheaper yes, slightly, but you must also change the Balance belt and waterpump everytime as they can take out the cambelt as well...

if you go as far as to fully replace the balance belt kit, it's almost as expensive as the timing kit again... also, every second change you have an expensive variator to replace..

the variator and balance belt do not exist on the v6. The TS and JTS have soft non-nitrited cranks... many big end failures in these.... i've never seen a v6 big end failure.. i'm sure it has happened w/ an over rev or low oil, but the fact is the nitrided crank in the v6 makes the ones in the fiat engines seem as though they are made of cheese. This was/is a "halo" product from alfa and was very well made.

Head gaskets worn camshafts are also more likely on the 4s.... cost of repairing these make the cam belt every 3 yrs look cheap.

[wankski]

pulled the actual pricing from my emails:

labour only price at LD for 156 v6.... cambelt + waterpump pasted below:


From: damian@lancedixon.com.au
To: wankski@hotmail.com
Subject: Re: labour quote: fitting cambelt + water pump to MY04 156 2.5 v6
Date: Wed, 9 Nov 2011 11:19:29 +1100

Hello Joe,
Thanks for your e-mail. We would need the vehicle for a full day and the labour charge would be $924 for the complete job.
Kind regards,
Damian Goldyn

Service Advisor
Lance Dixon Prestige - Alfa Romeo | Fiat
571 Doncaster Rd
Doncaster Vic 3108


P: (03) 9848 8888  F: (03) 9840 2837
E: anthonye@lancedixon.com.au
W: www.lancedixon.com.au


Pricing for parts from UK (steve from alternative autos is the man!! also ebspares.co.uk are good, or alfa ricambi in GER)

1) option 1 cam kit        (1xcam belt oe, 1x cam tens adj skf,2x fix tens skf) £149.95
2) aux belt 6pk1995        £10.95
3) water pump                £59.95

that's what i got! shipping maybe 40 quid more? I ended up getting some upper arms and a valve gasket kit and thermo as well, shipping all up only ~60 quid!

end of. I had LD do my q2, and they stuck to their word and did it for me for $400. so their pricing is accurate and they stand by it and i trust them heaps...

i'll be doing the belt myself as i have sourced the tools. (on their way hopefully!)

cheers

joe

[colcol]

Re oil, Twin sparks use 10 - 40 fully synthetic oil, the early JTS's used this oil, but because of the looser ring design, they used oil that frightened owners, so they upspecked the oil to 10 - 60 fully synthetic, to cut consumption, i have purchased 10 - 60 Castrol edge for about $60 from Repco and Autobahn, they have a yearly price war, towards the end of the year, cause whoever sells the most oil, gets it cheaper next year, keep an eye out for it, in fact tell us when its on special, as i will to you, my JTS is an early one that still has the 10 - 40 oil spec under the bonnet, for the latest spec, look at the oil company websites, Colin.

[colcol]

I won't go over all the timing belt details, as they have been covered a million times before, you should change your balance shaft belt everytime you change your timing belt, because if the balance shaft belt breaks, it will get caught up in the timing belt and flip it of, wrecking your engine, the waterpump should be changed every second timing belt change, the variators, i have no experience of, but change it when your car sounds like a Diesel on startup, one of the main time consumers with these JTS motors, is pulling all the gaurds and covers off, to get to the timing belts, once the covers are off, its quite easy to access everything, Colin.